The Occupy Movement Turns on Its Religious Supporters

Editor’s note: To get David Horowitz’s perspective on the OWS movement, see his recent lead feature, Communism Reborn. For the whole story behind Occupy Wall Street and how this movement marks a new phase in the rebirth of the communist Left, read the new broadside by David Horowitz and John Perazzo, Occupy Wall Street: The Communist Movement Reborn. This essential pamphlet exposes the roots, leaders and hidden agendas of the radical movement and its war on capitalism and free societies.

Having been anointed collectively as “Person of the Year” in 2011 by the desperate and irrelevant Time magazine, the unwashed masses of the Occupy movement seem to have let the dubious honor go to their collective head. Never known for their restrained, orderly behavior, the Occupiers have even begun turning against and repulsing their supporters among the religious left.

Initially, the Los Angeles Times pronounced the Occupy movement as “a predominantly secular undertaking,” although it did note that “some left-leaning religious groups see a golden opportunity in the Occupy movement, whose central message of greater economic equality resonates deeply among faith-based progressives.”

Sure enough, religious progressives did rush to anoint the movement as it began to swell. FrontPage contributor Mark Tooley noted that such religious left icons as Jim Wallis and Shane Claiborne rhapsodized about the Occupiers standing with Jesus in their defense of the poor, even resembling St. Francis of Assisi. “Whether or not the Wall Street Occupiers are ‘ordinary people,’” Tooley wrote, “much less resemble St. Francis, the Religious Left is bursting with pride over their naughty demands.” Wallis urged his followers to embrace the movement, literally:

Our faith communities and organizations should swing their doors wide and greet the Occupiers with open arms, offering them a feast to say “thank you” for having the courage to raise the very religious and biblical issue of growing inequality in our society.

By the beginning of December The Huffington Post asserted that “more than 1,400 faith leaders from around the country [had] signed a pledge of solidarity with Occupy protesters.” They conducted services and provided counseling, and their churches hosted Occupy meetings. Religious communities of all stripes rushed to offer the Occupiers shelter and solidarity:

In addition to spiritual ministry and space to assemble and sleep, religious communities have provided the Occupy movement with material support such as food, clothing, tents, blankets and heaters.

Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams wrote that Jesus would be among the Occupiers of St. Paul’s Cathedral, and that the movement had prompted people to examine themselves and ask, “What would Jesus do?”

But the behavior of the Occupiers themselves belied all this spiritual praise. If the Occupiers did ask themselves “What would Jesus do?” then they apparently came to the conclusion that Jesus would expose himself, rape, urinate and defecate in public, endanger children, steal, trespass, trash public and private property, harass and denounce Jews, assault non-protesters and police, block traffic, take drugs, hurl Molotov cocktails and blood and vinegar, and more. Andrew Breitbart’s Big Government website has posted a jaw-dropping, ongoing “rap sheet” of the Occupy movement’s reprehensible if not actually criminal behavior that numbers well over 400 incidents. But that list hasn’t been updated for a month. To date, arrests at Occupy events number over 6,000, including over 400 in Oakland alone last weekend. By contrast, the Tea Party movement doesn’t even litter.

Mark Tapson, a Hollywood-based writer and screenwriter, is a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center. He focuses on the politics of popular culture.

http://visionsandprinciples.blogspot.com/ InRussetShadows

The religious left once again shows itself to be getting in the way of spreading the gospel, as expected by people who have the discernment of a stone. Wonder if they will ever hit their knees and repent for endorsing such wickedness, or even ask God to grant them wisdom?

Jobe

I wonder if these dufuses, the occutards, and the "religious" left, who are no more religious than King Herod, reallly believe the idiocy that they mouth. Let's achieve equality of income by confiscation, selective taxation, and outright theft, and then all will be well. Are they too stupid to know that when the golden goose is cooked, the eggs no longer appear? These are incredibly ignorant people, or they are incredibly evil. Perhaps they are both.

BS77

Whatever support Occupy had ……it's gone.

BS61

It's gone temporarily, it will be back in the spring right through to Obama's campaign!

WE think it is gone, and yes, the support for them in the polls is down, but they are not stopping.

Richard H

Hahahahaha… a link to Breitbart and accusations that Occupiers are all drug-abusing rapists? Yawwwwwn. Put down the Kool-Aid and grow up; we're past this phase in the dialogue. Can we go back to the conversation about the truly nauseating levels of wealth disparity in the US?

Ken

Dick?!? Can I call you Dick?? I believe it is you who should put down the Kool-Aid. And all the Leftist and Progressive literature. Also, it is not a good thing to covet something you do not have. Usually because you do not have it through your own actions and decisions. When all you uber-Lefties, Progressives, and neo-Communists can take responsibility for your own actions and quit demanding that the country "owes" you something, maybe your narrative will be bit different.

StephenD

Ken, now, now. You are showing signs of logic. I'm afraid this will never do. You see, it is a zero sum game. If YOU have it, it must be that I cannot have it. So, I should find a way to take it! Makes sense…if you're a lunatic. Right…Dick?

BeauW

Actually, Stephen there isn't a shred of logic in anything Ken said. He started by referring to the opposition as slang for a sex organ, then accused him of being Communist and other such claims, there's not a shred of logic anywhere in that statement. Where are the facts to back up your claims about that person, or that there isn't anything wrong with Mitt Romney paying less income taxes than most middle-class Americans.(see what I did there? its called providing facts)

Guest

How about this for logic. Communists are evil. Oh wait, that's How liberal fools speak and call it logical.

No need to waste time with liberals. They all suffer from mental damage leading them to believe in their own righteousness.

truckwork

Yes BeauW, most middle class Americans do pay more in income taxes, but don't pay as much in capital gains taxes as Mr. Romney. Most of what Mr. Romney now has as income comes from investments that are taxed at a different rate than income tax. It's called capital gains tax and it's presently at 15% which helps not just Mr. Romney but anyone who holds stock in any company including the millions of Americans who hold mutual funds. However, I'll bet even before you calculate in the tax that was paid by the companies that Mr. Romney invested HIS money in, it was taxed at the highest corporate rate in the world (35%) as corporate income before he ever got it as capital gains. So if you wish to compare apples to apples rather than apples to oranges, Mr. Romneys tax rate was really 50%
Now BeauW that's providing facts. Not just repeating the same old LIE (another sin as is Coveting others belonings.) See what I did there? That's providing FACTS and I didn't have to call you a name to do it.

Brain

35% Corporate tax plus 15% capital gains tax doesn't mean being taxed 50% overall. I'll let that bid of mathematical misunderstanding slide. Try to do the math right next time, because you're making all the other people on this thread look dumb.

Blaze Pascal

So what you're saying is that average Americans are overtaxed, and they should be taxed less just like Romney? OK I'll agree to that.

R Eskola

Instead of insults, why don't you just do the math:

p_tax = 1 – ( 1 – 0.15 )*( 1 – 0.35 ) = 0.4475 = 44.75 %

ebonystone

Too many of these comments are confusing taxes on capital gains with taxes on dividends. For dividends, there is double taxation, since they come out of profits that a company makes, and pays corporate income taxes on. But capital gains taxes are paid on the gain one makes from the SALE of property, when one sells it for more that one paid for it. (That is, IF one sells at a profit; one can also sell at a loss, and then pay no taxes, and even take a deduction — up to a certain point — from one's income.) And there is no taxation until one sells; paper gains don't count. Example: I bought 1000 shares of XYZ Corp. 30 years ago at $10/share; its value rose nicely, reaching $100/share in 2007. But I held on to it — paying no capital gains tax — until this year, when needing the money, I sold it for only $50/share, paying capital gains tax on the $40,000 profit I actually made, not on any potential gain I could have made by selling it in 2007. The company paid dividends each year until 2008, and those were taxable each year. [cont'd]

ebonystone

[cont'd]
Also capital gains taxes are levied on anything sold at a profit — stocks, bonds, real estate, collectibles, etc. Example: I bought my Ferrari 250GT coupe 50 years ago for $12,000. I've kept it in excellent condition, and just sold it for $200,000, so I'll owe capital gains tax on the $188,000 profit. But it never owed any corporate income tax.

trickyblain

200,000? Excellent condition?!

It's a millon dollar car if in prime.

intrcptr2

Dick is short for Richard, pretty boy. Yeah, there is that odd parallel you mentioned, but the oh so slight insult was not without a logical base.

And yes, I did see what you did, oddly that's why I can type a response.

But by repeating the nonsensical claim that Mitt pays fewer taxes than the average middle class American simply illustrates why there is no political dialogue these days; it is not true, and thus no fact.

Focusing on wealth disparity, in and of itself, IS Marxist. Without examining why some are poor and others are not, such comparisons are worse than useless.

trickyblain

Pointing out wealth disparity is Marxist? Nah.

Ignoring wealth disparity is to invite Marxism. Over the past 20 years, middle class income has stagnated while wages at the top have multiplied. Marx predicted this being what would open the door to violent revolution. Capitalism eats itself if its masters are unchecked. Eventually there's no middle class. Ignore wealth disparity at your own peril. Pointing it out and addressing it is fighting communism!

(Disclaimer: I do not "envy" ultra rich, am gainfully employed doing what I've always wanted to and am a homeowner in a very desirable part of the city I live in)

Blaze Pascal

You are absolutely right. The middle class has shrunk drastically under obuma. Hardly anyone has a job anymore. You could say we're on the royal road to equality. Happy now?

R Eskola

I think that US has actually killed her capitalism. The process started at least 80 years ago.

The economic system we know live in on both sides of the pond is really almost exactly what Benito Mussolini described as fascism: 'Fascism could be called corporatism because it combines the power of state and the power of corporations'.

As corporations, BM included all big companies, trade unions or any association or organization that commands any power or influence. See, MB was a marxist theorist, a syndicalist, if my memory serves me right.

In a corporatist economy we do testify rapidly increasing economic disparity. When middle class disappears, we'll only have the poor and the very rich.

But when we advance to full blown socialism, well only have the poor…

Believe me, I witnessed it 'from the shadow' of the iron curtain.

-R-

BS61

However, the Warren Buffets of the world don't want income equality, they want to control us!

R Eskola

How many tax dollars Mitt Romney pays then?

Freedom Fighter

Oh, Richard H. You are a useful idiot……

F.S.

Blaze Pascal

no, he's a useless idiot.

Jobe

Nauseating to whom? You want to be wealthy, then WORK. If you don't like someone else's wealth, then do what you do when you are confronted with someone who is better looking, a better athlete, or smarter than you are. POUT IN YOUR ROOM! But for God's sake, don't allow your commode of a mind to overflow into print any more. You embarrass yourself with your ignorance.

http://FreedomTorch.com/ FreedomTorch.com

I LOVE the Left! I love them for their comedic value. They're clowns and they really make me laugh… a LOT! Their response to any information that reflects negatively on them and their ideology is to say, "we're past this phase in the conversation. Can we get back to the dialogue (always using the pompous British spelling) about how bad you guys on the right are!?" !!!! So typical. So predictable. So laughable. LOVE IT!

Get what you earn

Wealth disparity generally reflects value to society disparity. The correlation is blurred by luck, by inherited wealth, and by poor family situations, but it's still a pretty strong correlation. You want more rewards from society? Try making yourself more valuable to society…. here's a hint: a degree in womyn's studies is not particularly valuable……

crandycrane

There has been rape. There has been murder. Parental abuse. Much more

Deny?

umustbkidding

As if reprobates of this order have their heads screwed on straight enough to understand the difference between right and wrong.

Let's see, "Wealth Disarity" – I make $60,000 a year and support a family of three. My neighbor makes $120,000 a year and supports a family of three. Am I supposed to be upset about that. What you are talking about only makes sense if you assume that everybody in your "99%" can't eat, clothe, or house themselves because the 1% has taken everything. I think what most of you are implicitly saying is that you just want more because you don't have enough – not because you can't eat etc. On the one hand your group says we need to consume less but on the other we need to "spread the wealth". I thought "wealth" was one of the problems?

BeauW

Well, now since one person is somewhat ok, suddenly the whole argument goes up in flames because one person disagrees, or doesn't fall into that category. It is not about every single person in the United States not having anything, its about the general idea that people with a lot of money are finding it extremely easy to make tons more, based on the facts that they have lower income taxes and that banks have used horrendous business practices to negatively effect millions of Americans.

intrcptr2

Were legally bound to "have used horrendous business practices".

truckwork

Then lets talk groups of people and lets use FACTS from the IRS in 2008, shall we?

The top 1% of earners earned 20% of all income earned, but paid 38% of all taxes payed. The top 10% of earners earned 45% of all income earned, but paid 70% of the taxes, and the bottom 50% of earners earned 13% of all income but paid just 3% of the taxes.

The top 10% of earners paid 70% of all income revenue but the bottom paid only 3%. Your right, that's not fair. I think the bottom 50% needs to pay MORE in income tax to make it fair!

Blaze Pascal

the 1% are not to blame.

olgalazin

Stupid gibberish. That is what you are posting. No analytical writing whatsoever. Reinstate the Glass-Steagull Act of 1933 for consumer protection against vulture capitalists and banks, and things will get better. No more excrements in the streets- Juan D Portado

Guest

All the analytical rhetoric in the world wouldn't help liberals. They name call, slander, and blah, blah, blah.

Not worth wasting time on.

Jeamar

Juan the Glass-Steagull Act was repealed in 1999. It usually only takes a few days or weeks to house-train dogs and the same amount of time for cats using a litterbox. How long should it take to train OWS not to defecate in public or sacred places? Surely these OWS have as much intelligence (although obviously not the common decency) of so-called dumb animals.

oldtimer

They are anti anything that doesn't get them what they want, free….They take advantage of everything they can as long as it suits their purpose.

BS77

The occupy puppet people think they are heroes of THE REVOLUTION….but, in fact, they are deluded losers frustrated by their infantile demands having not been met. When the terrorist thug, played by Gene Simmons in some movie tells Rutger Hauer (the good guy)"I am a soldeir of God" or some such clap trap…Rutger Hauer tells him, "No, you are just a fly on a pile of excrement."

fiddler

It's called liberal tribalism

tanstaafl

Ever lurching towards the abyss…..

theleastthreat

Imagine how bad they'll have to get before the rest of the Left turns on them.

Toa

I suspect that the "Mainstream Left" will not turn against them until they have served the extent of their purposes like, for instance, "occupying" polling places to "persuade" voters across the country a few months from now. When these "heroes of the working class" are no longer useful, then it will be "Krystallnacht" time.

Ano

The Agenda 21 movement is working folks…..please wake up and learn. It will answer all your questions and point you in the direction of the truth. It is the 800lb. gorilla in all our lives. This is what ALL Americans need to focus on and root out. The wind is closing on saving our nation. Stop falling prey to all the distractions and learn all you can about Agenda 21.

RichM

Ano has this pegged exactly right. This is implementation of Agenda 21. The Occupy "One Demand" is for "Abolition of Empire" and replacement of empire with "Earth Community". Earth Community is to be based upon the Earth Charter. Earth Charter is the outcome of the 1992 Earth Summit, a.k.a. Agenda 21. I also wrote about this and posted information at the following:http://www.facebook.com/occupydangers

This document is a long read, but it is impossible to condense the "global revolution" down to the Reader's Digest 500 words or less version.

Brujo Blanco

OWS needs to be dealt with as organized crime. They are engaging in all types of criminal activity. The authorities failed to act on violations of law as they occurred and now others will have to pay the price. These demonstrators have clearly identified themselves as communist by word of mouth and/or actions.

fiddler

As are their complicit brethren in the news media. To quote Sergeant Schultz: "I know NOTHING; I see NOTHING".

BS77

The Occupy mob screamers think they are "heroes of the Revolution" but they are really just steaming garbage. When terrorist thug played by Gene SImmons insists he is a soldier of God, Rutger Hauer dispels the illusion and says, "No, you are just a fly on a pile of s—-.

mrbean

America is like a healthy body and its resistance is threefold: its patriotism, its morality, and its spiritual life. If the leftists can undermine these three areas, America will collapse from within. The New Left are useful idiot indoctrinates of the Old Left. They learned this well during the Vietnam War by aligning themsleves with and aiding and abetting America's enemies, by their free love and drug culture, and their assaults on America's Judeo-Christian heritage – and they have been do it ever since.

AntiSharia

When you lie down with dogs don't be surprised when you end up scratching fleas.

Jobe

Pathetic losers have always schemed to get dishonestly and easily what the rest of us have worked for. This group, the occutards, are no different. They cry and whine just as do small children. They stamp their feet, hold their breath until they turn blue, and scream and hollar to get attention. They need to be viewed, not as a movement (except perhaps as a bowel movement) but rather, as individuals engaged in criminal behavior.

I remember reading something by one of the 60's radicals, Hoffman, or Brown, somebody, and the gist of what he was saying was that the protestors who siezed the administration building of I believe it was Columbia University, were the most surprised people in the world when their demands, especially complete amnesty, were met with surrender by the University.

mrbean

I used to know a kid about 6 or 7 when I was young that when he couldn't get his way in a store he would throw a raging tantrum and deliberately pee and poo his pants. Hmmmmm… come to think of it were some of the occupiers doing this in the street, on police cars, on doorsteps and entrances to businesses? Hmmmm…

Thanks for the info….I could not remember the film title. Like the Delta Force, this film was gloriously NON PC….terrorists were treated to hot lead instead of liberal appeasement.

Rifleman

"%#$!@ the bonus!" *Ping* classic movie moment. I had forgotten about the fly line.

Texasron

Why is it that the Occuopiers generally cover their faces? No one in the Tea Party had to resort to such a thing. Is it because they are afraid that they will be recognized and found out to be the worthless individuals they are?

Blaze Pascal

they are ashamed of being so stupid. Good for them.

BS77

They are worse than worthless…they are destructive ingrates….losers, drop outs and bums who are smashing windows and burning garbage bins as an expression of their dismal lives.

fiddler

Oh I bet Bill Ayers feels the "Good Old Days" have returned: bombing police stations and the Pentagon. What next?

dysgenic

If the financial sector behaved with integrity instead of criminality the Occupy movement would not have seen its opening.

Blaze Pascal

no one has really explained to me what crime they did, just that they're really really bad.

Rifleman

The financial sector was operating under government regulations and enforcement, maybe you should look in government for your criminals.

WilliamJamesWard

Riot has it's own dynamic and energies, it is understood by the police who must
stop it and prevent it but with the effete political posture of PC no direction is given
which would uphold society's laws. In fact it seems that political elites are wanting
the offending vermin to succeed in their antics, thus cowering the citizenry who must
be accepting of the violations. It is a form of cultural deflation of American citizens
right to safety and good order. The crimes of OWS can be blamed on leadership
that violates their oath to uphold the law and they should be removed from office.
William

BS77

Occupy…..straight out of Animal Farm……These are the pigs that want to be more equal than all others…..they want income redistribution, your prosperity, your property, the fruits of your hard work, investments and business ideas…..alll for them because they have nothing, do not want to work or risk….Classic Orwellian theme

g moore

christ would say: "render unto caesar"

Stephen_Brady

There's only one thing that I can thank OWS for. After all of these years, I once again get to say,"Smelly hippies, get off the lawn." …

WilliamJamesWard

Who would have thought after all of this time, kind of like hives, pop up every
now and again………………………….William

BS77

Religious LEFT….now there's a contradiction in terms…. atheist Marxists pretending to be pious.

WilliamJamesWard

Exactly!!!…………………………..William

Richard Terrell

By their fruit ye shall know them. These churches are getting exactly what they have asked for, by trading in the Kingdom of God for hopes of earthly utopia via collectivism. They really seem to believe that Jesus advocated the forceful looting of some people for the benefit of others by corrupt political entities. The really tragic thing today is that reading a story about people defecating and urinating inside a church's public spaces IS NOT REALLY ALL THAT SURPRISING!! When you've got "theologians" like Jim Wallis out there, what would you expect?

BS77

Yeah, burn a garbage dumpster….burn a flag…break a window….You occupy morons are real brave heroes……you should be ashamed of yourselves.

RichMedford

The occupy movement has a religious agenda that is hostile towards the monotheistic faiths. Occupy Global (an Occupy General Assembly working group) writes that the movement will soon reveal there is much more to it than what meets the eye. This movement is about "conscious evolution" and calls for adherence to the conscious evolution cosmology as outlined by Barbara Marx Hubbard. It is a violent ideology which identifies half of the earth's population as either a cancer in the social body or worthless eaters.

Excerpts from Barbara Marx Hubbard's Book of Co-Creation are at the bottom of the article.

UCSPanther

I knew these losers would be back like a bad lunch. I fear we have more summers of parks being reduced to cesspools, complete with health code violations, infestations of druggies, vagrants and other dregs of society and major clean-up after they are cleared ahead of us.

mrbean

For Brain and Escola. If I live in New York City or its suburbs and rent, and I earn $100,000 a year I pay 35% federal taxes, 11% state taxes, 3.0% New York City taxes, 7.65 % social security and medicare, then there is the hidden taxes and sales taxes, so I get to keep at best $4 out of evry $10 I earn.

ebonystone

Actually, if you made $100,000 in 2011, and are single, and are unable to itemize, your federal income figures as follows:
gross $100,000
minus 5,800 standard deduction
leaves 94,200
minus 3,700 exemption
leaves 90,500 taxable income
Then, from the Tax Table is $18,964.
18,964 divided by 100,000 is 18.964%, not 35%.
Don't know what your state income tax actually works out to. Still, I agree that altogether it's too much.

OldmanRick

The occupy crowd believes in do unto others before they can do unto you. They only care about their rights, not the rights of others.

guest

The only kind of person who would urinate on a cross or disrupt a Christian sanctuary would be a Muslim. They have desecrated churches and Christian symbols before.
OWS has turned from its religious supporters? I doubt it's turned from its Islamic supporters. If anything, the OWS movement will hold them close; they need the violence and chaos Islam threatens.

cynthia curran

Well, the Republicans along with the Democratics have pump in a lot of poor people from immirgation. No wonder the left is crazy now. Wages have dropped because of too much competition between native born and foreign born. Obama is bascially copying Bush in terms of letting more foreign born into the country and driving wages down.

Fred Dawes

The so called occupy movement is now ocupy with FBI And governmen people it is how this country is build and it owned the the KKK And all movement are owned by this government.

And? The video is very white washed. Only shows the clean, peaceful side of the OWS. I like how it ends with a very communistic red poster, which belies the movement.

BeauW

Much like this whole article is very white-washed as showing the hateful, evil Communist side of OWS. See what I did there? Get a clue.

Guest

Communists are evil so what's your point?

intrcptr2

To white-wash something means to clean up what is dirty, or evil in this case.

This article is not white-washing anything, it is laying bare the ugly truth. It is not possible to have both good and evil at these gatherings while calling them good. The presence of the evil is what defines it, just as the absence of such things helps define the Tea Party rallies.

BS61

Yes, I did see what you did! Their is only one communist side to the OWS clan, and the useful idiots